


Pivotal Role

by alvahana



Category: White Collar
Genre: Fluff and Crack, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-30
Updated: 2014-06-30
Packaged: 2018-02-06 20:47:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1871931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alvahana/pseuds/alvahana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter and Neal need El's help with an undercover operation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pivotal Role

“I got it,” Neal said as he caught the rubber ball he was tossing in Peter’s office.

“Nope,” Peter replied, his eyes still focused on the report on his desk.

“That really is your favorite word, isn’t it?” Neal said. “You didn’t even hear what I’m gonna say.”

"Don’t need to. You’ve got that tone.”

“What tone?”

“That I’m-up-to-no-good tone. Whatever it is you’re thinking will give me a headache for sure.”

“Peter, that’s hurtful,” Neal said, his expression anything but wounded.

“Good to know,” Peter muttered dryly.

“C'mon. Just hear me out.”

Peter finally looked up and sat back in his chair. “Give me one good reason why I should."

“Because if you don’t, I’ll just keep nagging at you until you give in. You know how persistent I can be.”

Peter grumbled. “Great. I’ve hired a 10-year-old as my consultant.”

Neal just beamed at him.

“This better be good,” he warned.

“It is. So, here’s my proposal…”

Peter’s eyes widened as he listened to his friend’s suggestion. “No!” he nearly yelled once the other man had finished. “I’m not sending El in as a secret agent!”

“What’s the problem? Won’t be the first time.”

“It’s one thing for her to accidentally get involved in a case, another to intentionally drag her into one,” Peter explained. “Neal, she’s a civilian, not a trained agent.”

“And she doesn’t look like one, which is even better. The target won’t suspect we’re running a con—” at Peter’s glare, Neal amended quickly, “—a sting, I mean.”

“This _sting_ could be dangerous.”

“Peter, this guy’s just a kid,” Neal countered. “He hates violence as much as I do. This is gonna be the least dangerous operation ever.”

“Anything could happen, Neal.”

“Think about it: You need someone smart and beautiful. Someone you can trust. Since Diana's not an option, who else’s better than your wife?” Neal could tell Peter still wasn’t convinced, so he continued, “Besides, unlike you, Elizabeth actually enjoys a good party. It’d be like taking her out to a normal date on a Friday night.”

That got him a glare from Peter. “Except I won’t be her companion on this date. Not to mention this party she’s going to is hosted by a criminal and a bunch of FBI agents will be listening through the wire.”

“Oh, I’m sure she won’t mind,” Neal said with a dismissive shrug, as if Peter had completely missed the point. “You know she loves it when you ask her to help with a case. I seem to recall last time we asked her to play a supportive wife of her husband’s co-worker, she was pretty excited.”

Peter’s eyes narrowed. “Why do I get the feeling you love watching me watching my wife playing someone else’s wife?”

“I don’t know where you got that idea from,” Neal responded with a huff, even though his face clearly said oh yeah that’s my favorite pastime.

Peter rolled his eyes.

“Are you not comfortable with this whole thing? If that's the reason, I can understand—"

“What? No!” Peter snapped. The last thing he wanted to become was a jealous, insecure husband. “Fine. We’ll bring this up to her tonight.”

“Wait, we?" Neal's smile dropped. "You need me to come with you?”

“It’s your brilliant idea. Besides, El’s making Cornish hen tonight. One of your favorites.”

Neal considered for a moment. “All right, I’ll come along. But you do the talking.” Before the other man could reject, he added, “She’s your wife.”

Peter could only sigh.

 

\------

That night at the Burke’s house, Peter and Neal dug into the patio while El was preparing the food. They had hoped to come up with a good approach to break the news to her over dinner, but after half an hour of discussion, they still couldn’t find one.

“So...Peter…” Neal started after a long silence.

“What have you got, Neal?” Peter asked hopefully.

“…I’m starting to think this plan might not be that great.”

“Now you’re having second thought?” Peter said. “We don’t have enough time to find another way. The thing’s going down in less than twenty-four hours!”

“Okay, okay," Neal held up both his hands. “Then we just need to convince Elizabeth.”

“Peter? Neal?” They heard El calling from inside the house. “What are you guys doing out there? The food’s getting cold.”

They exchanged a worried look with each other before heading back inside to face the inevitable. In the dining room, El was laying some delicious-looking dishes on the table. She looked up, caught Peter's expression and frowned.

“What’s going on, Peter?” El asked.

“Huh? Er...everything’s fine, Hon.” Peter sounded unconvincing even to himself. He glanced at Neal and found his friend had already put on a nonchalant expression.

“But you’ve got your bad news face,” El said, concerned.

“What? Nooo. You're thinking too much.”

“Don’t worry, Elizabeth. It’s nothing bad,” Neal intervened. He had a feeling if he didn't, Peter would make it sound like he had lost his job or something worse had happened. “Peter just needs your help with a case.”

“Oh, that’s it?" El seemed immediately relieved. "Sure. How can I help?”

“Well…” Peter hesitated for a moment, and started. “There’s this young forger we're investigating and one of our agents had gone undercover to get close to him. Over the past few weeks we've been gathering evidence of his illegal activities. According to the intel provided by our agent, the guy's planning on trading one of his forged piece during a party he's hosting tomorrow night. Our plan is to catch him in the act," He said. "Everything's in place, but we still need a woman to play a pivotal part in this operation..."

“It’d be great if you could lend us a hand,” Neal finished for him.

“Of course.” Excitement was obvious in El's voice. “I like undercover work, to be honest. It’s usually quite fun.”

Peter felt the need to further elaborate the situation. “El, this might be a bit different from what you might expect…”

El gave them a questioning frown. “Different, how?”

Neither men spoke.

“Guys, I once played the wedding planner of a fake wedding of my husband and a black widow. Don’t forget I was also there when said husband and his partner’s ex-girlfriend took dozens of romantically involved photos for a case. I think I’m qualified for whatever role you want me to play.”

“Touché.” Neal nodded in admiration.

Peter, on the other hand, looked somewhat more troubled.

“So?” El prompted. “Gonna share my role with me?”

“Before we tell you, Hon,” Peter said. “You should know this is entirely Neal’s idea.”

Neal shot him a glare, then turned back to El. “You’ll be the hot and demanding wife of our undercover agent. Our suspect insists on meeting her.”

“Wife again? That’s easy enough.” She sounded a little disappointed. After a moment, she asked, "Wait, what do you mean by demanding?"

“Well,” Neal said, shoving his hands in his pockets, "according to the background created by the FBI, she's the single child of a very rich family and was once a supermodel. So you may say she's a bit of an attention-seeking drama queen."

El arched her eyebrows.

“I didn't build the background." Neal threw a sidelong glance at Peter.

“El, we didn't think we'd actually need to bring the wife into the picture when we were creating the profile for our agent." Peter said hastily.

El seemed to accept the explanation, fortunately. “Okay, hot and demanding...I’m sure I can handle that." She paused. "So who’s the lucky guy this time? I’m assuming it won’t be you, Neal.”

Neal shook his head.

“Is it Jones?”

Another head shake.

“Blake? Or that new guy Westley?”

The sheepish expression on Neal's face was almost identical to Peter's.

“What’s wrong?”

Neal gave Peter a nudge with his elbow.

“…Lucky girl,” Peter answered, finally.

“Huh?"

“It's Diana. You'll be playing Diana's wife.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted at my LJ: http://alvahana.livejournal.com/4036.html


End file.
